After reading a statement that said many homeschoolers speak negatively of schools, I had to stop and search within myself about the truth in that statement. It is a true and unfortunate fact that some homeschoolers can be quite vocal about their disdain or discomfort with public schools. I can also understand that it disturbs many people, especially educators when they hear homeschoolers speak negatively of schools. However, it is generalizing to say that many homeschoolers are negative towards schools.
From someone who felt that my only option was to take my kids out of school, I can only say that our experience was bad, and that my younger brothers had bad experiences, and that my little cousin had a bad experience, and my nephew had a bad experience, and that his younger brother is definitely having a bad experience right now. However, I have several educators in my family who do an excellent job. This past spring four AWESOME kids from my church graduated with honors and scholarships. I also have a three nieces and nephews who are making school look like a cakewalk. I have seen just as many successes as I have seen failures. Still I do not like the 50-50 odds that I have observed. It is my right to voice these observations.
I think it is unfair to complain that homeschoolers point out problems in schools when we are constantly put in a position to defend our choices and ourselves. It is as if people are programmed to ask the socialization question the minute they meet a homeschooler. Likewise, we are programmed to defend our choice. Some of us respond well under pressure giving a well-measured and fair response. Some of us give the easy, knee-jerk answers. The easy answer is usually the one that slams public schools.
With this said, I would like to issue a challenge to homeschooling parents. Sit down and really think about the reasons you homeschool, what motivates you, and how you feel about public schools. This way, when you will not be forced to give an answer that is anti-school, but rather pro-homeschool. I know when people ask me why I homeschool I say that we had a series of bad experiences that reminded me of other bad experiences and very bad eventual outcomes that I had witnessed. I wanted something different for my kids.
This does not take away from the fact that my mother was a very dedicated educator. This does not take away from the fact that I enjoyed my own high school experience (in spite of some very bad experiences with a couple of teachers). This does not take away from the fact that if my kids really wanted to go to school, I would find a very good private prep school to send them to and then work to pay for it. However, this does not mean that I should have to be silent when I see problems in public schools that I do not like.
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I Can’t Believe I get to Homeschool my Kids!